Arsenal are progressing with a deal to sign Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and are expected to trigger the £5m release clause in his contract.

Arsenal are understood to be impressed with Kepa’s desire to join and fight for his place in the team.

Once finalised, Kepa will compete with David Raya after Neto returned to Bournemouth from his loan spell at the Emirates.

The Spanish stopper was signed by Chelsea in the summer of 2018 from Athletic Club for £71.8m, a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper at the time.

Kepa signed a new deal at Chelsea last summer to allow him to go to Bournemouth on loan last season. The same deal saw him take a pay cut, but it also included the £5m release clause.

The 30-year-old was Bournemouth’s first-choice goalkeeper last season, making 35 starts as Andoni Iraola’s team produced their best-ever Premier League finish.

Chelsea’s goalkeeper search: Blues chasing Maignan

Chelsea are in talks to sign AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

The Blues are in talks to sign the France international and Sky in Italy are reporting that AC Milan want around £25m (€30m) to sell.

However, Chelsea aren’t willing to pay £25m for a 29-year-old who has one year left on his AC Milan contract.

Analysis: Chelsea will need to offload goalkeepers

Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:

“Chelsea are making a big push to sign Maignan. It looks like the player is up for the challenge of moving to the Premier League, and he’s only got a year left on his contract at AC Milan.

“I know a lot of Chelsea supporters have been demanding the club sign a new goalkeeper, because they’re not totally convinced by Robert Sanchez or Filip Jorgensen.

“But they do have a lot of goalkeepers on their books – they’ve got Djordje Petrovic, who’s been on loan at Strasbourg, and Mike Penders from Genk who stayed there on loan too.

“He’s been described as the new Thibaut Courtois, and they’ve still got Kepa who’s been on loan at Bournemouth.

“That would be six goalkeepers – there’s no chance Chelsea go into next season with six goalkeepers of that calibre on their books. If and when Maignan comes in, you’d think there would be scope for at least one of those to leave.

“But it would be a really good signing for Chelsea, a lot of fans aren’t happy with the No 1 situation and they are used to having world-class goalkeepers like Petr Cech and Courtois.

“This would be a statement signing, and what would really please Chelsea supporters is that he’s not young, he’s not developing, he’s not someone who’s spent time at the Manchester City academy. He’s someone who has proved himself at Lille, won the title at AC Milan and is the France No 1.”